Stephanie Hull is safely getting patients onto the Computed Tomography (CT) table, prepping them, checking to see if they’re getting contrast and making sure they can lie flat for about 15 minutes. She’s a new CT Technologist in the Imaging department on Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus, having joined Cleveland Clinic in March 2022. As her one-year anniversary approaches, she shares her thoughts on being a new Cleveland Clinic caregiver.

What feelings did you have when you first started working here?

“There were definitely feelings of being overwhelmed by how much and how many different exams that we are responsible for scanning. But I also felt proud and that I had accomplished something by being hired here. I remember going to my interview and just felt I would love to work here. I was very, very happy.”

What was your orientation/training period like?

“It was a 90-day training period. There are six different areas that every new CT Tech is trained in: inpatient, outpatient, the emergency department, our own scanner, the cardiac building portable CTs and two scanners for procedures. It’s amazing how many things you can see and learn in the 15 seconds it takes to scan someone.”

How did your fellow caregivers support you?

“They were all very helpful. They told me about all the new things, why we do them, how we do them. Even my manager told us that if we ever needed anything, even if it’s in the middle of the night, that we’re always welcome and encouraged to call her on her cell phone, just in case.”

How is Cleveland Clinic supporting your growth?

“It supports my growth by giving me the experience that I feel like I couldn’t quite get anywhere else. The innovation that’s put forward here, it’s unlike any other healthcare facility. Until working here, I had honestly never heard of a portable CT scanner computed tomography.”

Is there anything you accomplished in your first year that you are particularly proud of?

“A really cool thing we do here is we get little gold or silver brain pins when a patient we’re involved with has a brain attack and we get them the necessary medication to help break up their blood clot and restore proper blood flow to their brain. If we do it within a very quick amount of time, they give us a pin to show us that we were involved in helping make a big difference in a patient’s life. I have 2 little gold pins so far.”

How do you feel now, having a year of experience?

“I feel like I now have extensive knowledge of cardiac CT scans. Where I worked before, we didn’t do any, so it was a whole new thing for me. I’ve always wanted to perform them — I’d read about them in Scanner magazine for CT Techs. I just feel proud knowing that I know as much as I do now about cardiac CTs.”

What advice would you offer to caregivers going into their first year?

“Take it one day, one shift at a time. I know how overwhelming it can feel at the beginning of training, knowing there are so many new things and different ways of doing stuff. Just take the time and realize if you learn a little bit every day, that’s going to help get you to where you want to be in the end.”